Starting Out Safely

Road Safety
Educator Resource

National Practice:
Intentional teaching
Engage in intentional teaching which
extends and expands children’s
learning about road safety.

Purposeful support from adults enriches children’s

learning. When describing intentional teaching as
deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful, it is important
to recognise that rather than a structured or formal
teaching strategy, intentional teaching occurs every
day through inviting learning spaces, in respectful
and emotionally nurturing environments, and in the
uninterrupted time educators provide for children
to play.
Road safety education is reinforced when
educators make deliberate decisions to
include materials/resources and teach
specific skills that support children to
become safer road users.
To achieve this, educators require knowledge
of road safety strategies as well as an understanding
of children’s strengths, abilities, interests, past
experiences and dispositions. Educators use this
understanding to intentionally include road safety
in their curriculums.
Connections
Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF)
“Intentional teaching involves educators being
deliberate, purposeful and thoughtful in their
decisions and actions. Intentional teaching is
the opposite of teaching by rote or continuing
with traditions simply because things have
‘always’ been done that way” (Belonging,
Being & Becoming – The Early Years Learning
Framework for Australia, 2009, p.45).
National Quality Standard
Quality Area 1: Educational program
and practice
1.2.2: Educators respond to children’s ideas
and play and use intentional teaching to scaffold
and extend each child’s learning.
Quality Area 5: Relationships with children
5.1.2: Every child is able to engage with
educators in meaningful, open interactions
that support the acquisition of skills for life
and learning.
Starting Out Safely Road Safety Educator Resource National Practices – Intentional teaching continued
Road safety education in practice
Case Study 1: Intentional teaching is an effective
way to extend children’s learning about road safety.
As a Family Day Care (FDC) educator greeted one of
her regular families, she was bombarded with stories of
the weekend’s events from enthusiastic three-year-old
twins. Their parent joined in and explained that they
had been involved in a small crash in the car park of
the shopping centre. Everyone was safe but it was
unnerving and had since been the focus of much of
the family’s conversations.
The educator took the opportunity presented by the
children’s interest to intentionally explore the impact
of the incident. A road mat, car, lego people and blocks
provided a back drop to talk with the children about
what had happened in the car park. The educator
learned that the twins and their baby brother were in
the right child restraints for their size and their mother
was wearing a seatbelt, and that this kept them safe
when they had the crash.
The conversation continued later that day when the
FDC educator took the children by car to the library.
As they got into the car, the educator asked the
children what they needed to do to keep safe. The
children discussed the importance of sitting in your
Practice suggestions
Being intentional is about educators being
thoughtful, deliberate and purposeful.
The following ideas can help strengthen this practice.
• Engage in authentic, meaningful conversations with
children that purposefully include key road safety
concepts and vocabulary. The following are some
open-ended questions to use when talking to
children about road safety. You might also develop
additional questions.
– How did you get here today?
– Why do you sit in a booster seat or use a child
restraint in the car?
– Can you think of any other ways you could get
to preschool?
– How will you know when it’s safe to cross the road?
– What do we look for when we cross the road
together?
– What sounds are we listening for when crossing
the road?
– I wonder what might happen if I didn’t wear
a helmet?
• Plan experiences that offer children an opportunity
to explore concepts related to being a safe road
user e.g. games that feature learning about spacial
Further information For more information about Starting Out Safely activities and resources please visit:
http://roadsafetyeducation.vic.gov.au/resources/early-childhood.html
child restraint and keeping your arms in the harness.
The educator then spoke about the importance of her
role in checking that the children were secured correctly
in their child restraints. This conversation built on the
discussion earlier in the day, reinforcing the children’s
learning about being safe passengers.
Case Study 2: Being intentional can also extend to the
families who use early childhood services. The team of
educators at a newly-built integrated service next door
to a school identified that the car park/drop-off area
was creating problems, especially for families with young
children in prams. The design and layout meant that
entrances were hard to navigate and the car park was
extremely busy at the beginning and end of each day.
Having noticed and discussed that this was an issue
for children’s safe arrival at the service, the team made
deliberate and thoughtful efforts to discuss the issue
with parents and elicit their ideas for how they might
arrive and use the car park more safely. Their ongoing
intentional action on this issue resulted in educators
providing clearer parent information, being present in
the car park to give directions and taking children out
into the car park with their families, where possible, to
learn more about how to keep safe in that environment.
relations (inside/outside, up/down), colour, shape,
size and number.
• Provide materials that deliberately invite children
to think about becoming safer road users e.g. hang
posters displaying appropriate child restraints/
booster seats, supply seatbelts and other props for
dramatic play and create a storage space for bicycle
helmets. Choose storybooks that provide an
opportunity to discuss road safety.
• Invite older children to be involved in helping to
plan excursions for themselves and younger peers
where appropriate, and use opportunities in this
planning to discuss road safety issues and solutions.
• Encourage children to be active in advocating for
their own safety. Children could discuss safety issues/
incidents within their own community and decide
how to take action to keep themselves and the people
they know safe. Actions may include writing to the
local government or making signage for their street.
• Educators might invite children to engage in the
risk assessment process before venturing out of the
service. Children could use discussion, images and
props to identify what to be mindful of and how
to keep safe.